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Juan Salas Acquired-Andy Marte Designated (Last Straw?)

Indians Acquire Salas, Designate Marte

By Tim Dierkes [February 19 at 2:23pm CST]
According to MLB.com's Anthony Castrovince, the Indians acquired reliever Juan Salas from the Rays today for infielder Isaias Velasquez. The Tribe designated one-time top prospect Andy Marte (who is out of options) for assignment to make room.

Salas, 30, posted a 2.62 ERA in 44.6 Triple A innings last year with excellent strikeout and walk numbers. Salas' history includes a PED suspension, a falsified birth date, and a conversion from third base. Aside from that he's known for his cutter. Salas dealt with an epileptic seizure, a sore elbow, and visa problems in '08. Velasquez, 20, hit .281/.368/.343 last year in Low A ball.

Marte was a regular on Baseball America top 100 prospects lists - 40th in '03, 11th in '04, 9th in '05, and 14th in '06. He was traded by the Braves to the Red Sox for Edgar Renteria in December of '05, and then flipped to the Indians the following month along with Guillermo Mota, Kelly Shoppach, Randy Newsom, and cash for Coco Crisp, David Riske, and Josh Bard.

One time promising prospect Andy Marte has been DFA once again... Was this the last straw?

Bye Bye Andy. Maybe we'll work out a trade. Maybe not. I hope Juan Salas is just as good off the juice as he was on. He pitched 34.2 scoreless innings out of 34.2 innings pitched in AA montgomery in 2006. His 2006 year in the minors was silly.

Even 2008 on the farm was pretty good. Maybe he'll provide us with another arm in the pen.

Likelihood is Marte clears waivers and is given the opportunity by the Indians to go to the minors (Columbus? or more likely Kinston), but he'll refuse, making him an unrestricted FA, able to sign with anyone. Where he ends up from there.. who knows...or cares..

Likelihood is Marte clears waivers and is given the opportunity by the Indians to go to the minors (Columbus? or more likely Kinston), but he'll refuse, making him an unrestricted FA, able to sign with anyone. Where he ends up from there.. who knows...or cares..

What say you

I think the pick up team only has to have him on the 40 man. So a team like Pittsburgh might nab him and throw him at AAA. Heck, he might be able to make their team.

Likelihood is Marte clears waivers and is given the opportunity by the Indians to go to the minors (Columbus? or more likely Kinston), but he'll refuse, making him an unrestricted FA, able to sign with anyone. Where he ends up from there.. who knows...or cares..

What say you

Marte can't refuse to become an unrestricted FA as he doesn't have enough service time to do that. That being said, think someone takes a flyer on him too.

Salas is one heck of an arm. He's got fewer than 250 TOTAL innings in his pro career on that arm too. He was signed as a 3B and played there for several years before being converted to a pitcher in 2004. Has less innings in Pro ball than even Adam Miller. His K/9 ratio is oustanding and could have the best stuff of any candidate for the 7th bullpen spot other than Miller.

Best part is he's got an option left so can go to AAA still. There were some conflictign reports that his PED suspension was from his elilepsy meds (he has seizures sometimes). He served the suspension so obviously he didn't win that arguement....but came back after it and pitched very well in AAA last year (clean as he'd be tested more since he failed a test).

Was one of the last 4 considered for the last bullpen spot on the Rays playoff roster even. The spot ultimately went to Price (Niemann and Talbot were the other two).

Has better minor league numbers than Jensen Lewis and Jon Meloan.......great pickup for a minor leaguer that was never likely to see even AAA let alone the MLs. Marte was going to be designated anyways once he didn't make the ML roster out of camp (seems like Shaprio/Wedge really dislike him now).....

Salas likely would have been in the Rays bullpen to start last year had he not had Visa issues which kept him out of the US til the end of April. I was actually really suprised he was designated by the Rays....but some reports say he and hte organization were at odds over some things........

Reyes and the Cards were the same way....so far that has worked out VERY well for hte Tribe......we'll see if we catch lightning in a bottle again.....

Originally Posted by Hermie13;8446721Reyes and the Cards were the same way...[B

.so far that has worked out VERY well for hte Tribe......we'll see if we catch lightning in a bottle again....[/B].

Umm am I missing something here? Reyes has pitched 34.1 innings in a Tribe uniform, in a lost season, and was shut down with elbow issues. Granted you can't label him a bust by any means, but has it really worked out VERY well? I'd hardly call Reyes catching "lightning in a bottle."

Salas might be a decent pickup. It's a low-risk high-reward type deal. But the dude is 30 and still in Triple-A. I'm not holding my breath.

Originally Posted by Sacco111

Shoot Dellucci to collect insurance money (just kidding). But seriously, make it look like an accident.

Umm am I missing something here? Reyes has pitched 34.1 innings in a Tribe uniform, in a lost season, and was shut down with elbow issues. Granted you can't label him a bust by any means, but has it really worked out VERY well? I'd hardly call Reyes catching "lightning in a bottle."

Salas might be a decent pickup. It's a low-risk high-reward type deal. But the dude is 30 and still in Triple-A. I'm not holding my breath.

34.1 innings with a 1.83 ERA is working out very well and what I'd call lightning in a bottle (at least so far, obviously that part could change this year)....especially when you consider the guy we traded for him would have been lost anyways in the Rule 5 draft (no way the Tribe would have protected him either).

Salas is 30 but was in the MLs in 2007. The only reason he was in AAA last year was because he had a Visa issue and didn't get to the US til April (had to go to extended spring training). He was suppose to be a fixture in the pen. He was then a victim of the numbers game later in the year. The TB pen was outstanding last year (3rd best ERA in the AL). And with a few guys out of options, there just wasn't gonna be a spot in the pen for Salas again this year.

He also burned some bridges with the falsified age thing and the visa issues last year.

And even though he's 30, his arm has the mileage on it of a 19 or 20 year old. Less pro innings than Miller and Sipp (the only other K-guys we have at the upper levels).

34.1 innings with a 1.83 ERA is working out very well and what I'd call lightning in a bottle (at least so far, obviously that part could change this year)....especially when you consider the guy we traded for him would have been lost anyways in the Rule 5 draft (no way the Tribe would have protected him either).

Salas is 30 but was in the MLs in 2007. The only reason he was in AAA last year was because he had a Visa issue and didn't get to the US til April (had to go to extended spring training). He was suppose to be a fixture in the pen. He was then a victim of the numbers game later in the year. The TB pen was outstanding last year (3rd best ERA in the AL). And with a few guys out of options, there just wasn't gonna be a spot in the pen for Salas again this year.

He also burned some bridges with the falsified age thing and the visa issues last year.

And even though he's 30, his arm has the mileage on it of a 19 or 20 year old. Less pro innings than Miller and Sipp (the only other K-guys we have at the upper levels).

I guess we defer on what "lightning in a bottle" means then. It's not really worth arguing over so I'm just gonna let it go.

As for Marte, here's a link to thediatribe.com's blog post about Marte's departure. It basically states everything I've been trying to say about Marte and his lack of real opportunity with the Tribe. Yeah, he didn't show much promise when he did get an opportunity, but lots of guys flounder when they aren't given regular at bats. For all you Marte haters (Essex this includes you), give it a read and while I'm sure it won't change your hardened minds, it may give you a different perspective on the kid.

Also in the post it kinda sums up how I feel about the Salas acquisition (needless to say, I'm not as high on the guy as Hermie is).

Originally Posted by Sacco111

Shoot Dellucci to collect insurance money (just kidding). But seriously, make it look like an accident.

Sure Ed, I agree he wasn't given a constant opportunity. But in the unfair world of baseball, you have to succeed when you are given an opportunity...it is that simple. He didn't seize the opportunities he was given and therefore it has come to this. Good luck in the future Andy, but good riddance. Sorry Ed, just because the DiaTribe says we were mean to Andy isn't going to change that he failed when given the chance.

Marte was also hurt by the braves before we even got him. He was rushed to the big leagues and his option clock was started before he was ready for the MLs. He's only 11 months older than Hodges.....

But I do agree, he needed to take better advantage of the opportunities given to him. He didn't exactly light it up at AAA in 2007 either. He's reminding me more and more of Alex Escobar.....but suppose he could still turn into Brandon Phillips....

We'll see if he clears waivers. Unless a team has an open 40-man roster spot...they'd be hard pressed to take a chance on him, but maybe they would. We should know by tomorrow here.